In Memoriam: James Richardson & Steve Jobs

I received a message yesterday from a friend, the great poet Honorée Jeffers, letting me know that another very fine poet we both knew, James Richardson, had passed away. I did not know James well, but been acquainted and his work for over two decades, and followed what he posted on the Cave Canem Foundation's Fellows' listserve avidly. His messages, critiques and commentary and our occasional direct exchanges showed that in addition to possessing the gifts of wit, critical acumen and an exuberance in everything he did, James knew a great deal about poetry and poetics. He also had written a dissertation comparing understanding of the Diaspora in fiction by Jewish-American and African-American writers. James taught at several different institutions, including Kennesaw State University, Morehouse College, and Phillips Academy, as well as most recently at his alma mater, Hampton University. He passed away shortly after suffering a heart attack. James leaves his sisters and extended family, including his students, colleagues and friends. Write poetry wherever you are, James, and keep on teaching.

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Steve Jobs (Vibe.com)

So extensive are the online tributes about Steve Jobs (1955-2011), the late co-founder of and chief impresario behind Apple Computers that I have nothing to add, except this: since college I primarily worked on Apple computers. I wrote both of my books, and am writing new ones, in addition to almost every poem, short story, play, translation, essay, letter, student critique--everything that I have not penned or penciled--and all these blog posts on one. (I had forgotten until coming across the mention in an online copy of my high school yearbook that "many" of my wealthy high school classmates had Apple II or III computers at home, and I was one of the yearbook's co-editors, so I certainly read that copy even if I didn't write it. I was still using a typewriter back then.) C will remember my beloved little SE30, the first Apple computer I ever owned, which I bought with the proceeds of the first major award I received, which was the only way I could afford it, and that machine was easily worth countless times its purchase price. It was invaluable. Every Mac I've purchased since has been as well.

As I've shown more than once on this blog, I have also drawn hundreds (I think it's now upwards of 350) images, figurative, abstract, semi-cartoon, what have you, on an Apple product (my iPhone and iPad). I have designed moving gifs and web pages, made microfilms and edited videoclips, and even tried my hand at admittedly dreadful musicmaking on an Apple computer. I have taken thousands of photos, produced thousands of tweets, sent thousands of emails, on Apple products. This blog is even accessible from a app(lication) available on Apple products. My debt to Steve Jobs is immense and grows. He did not just create a successful company, but rethought how we interact with technology, which is to say, rethought and reshaped how we live. Right now, I am sitting in a café, reading short stories by my undergraduates and graduate students, and know without even querying them that many were produced on Apple computers. Near me six people are working on Apple's Macintosh computers; four are listening to music, podcasts, or who knows what on iPods or iPhones. This would mirror any cafe across the US.  Past the large picture windows, shaded by ecru screens, a thickset man bops down the street, Apple headphone wires descending from his ears into this pocket. It is almost impossible to think that just 10 years, iPods didn't exist; just 7 years ago, there were no iPhones; and before January 2010, while there were tablet computers, there were no iPads. Now their purchase is both becoming an educational mandate and provoking political scandals.

Apple Computers would not have existed without Jobs, but it might have listed on towards irrelevance had he not returned to its operations in 1997. Even when he'd left the company and during all the years he was associated with it, right up to these last few weeks, it has been his vision, coupled with the genius of countless engineers, marketers, manufacturing workers, support staff, and customers, that have produced the remarkable creations issuing regularly from its offices and factories. Thank you, Steve Jobs, and your imprint and those of all associated with Apple will remain on my work, as it will on many others, for time to come.

Tata Nano Coming + Boulez Becalmed + CC & Kundiman in Bkyn

A few years back I posted about MDI compressed-air automobile technology, developed by Guy Negre in France, which seemed to me to be an option that US automakers in Detroit or elsewhere might consider investing in. The ongoing problems with US automaking, symbolized at the time by the faltering Chrysler-Daimler Benz deal, were central in my mind. One of the articles I'd linked to said that Indian auto powerhouse, Tata Motors, had leapt on the technology and was going to start producing compressed-air models later that year. Three years later, it doesn't appear as though Tata has gotten that far with the compressed-air technology, but it has produced the least expensive car on earth ($2,500 US), the Nano, which it'll begin selling over here very soon. The Christian Science Monitor writes that Tata is finalizing a European model, which will require changes to the system's engine to meet the EU's much higher auto-emission standards, and is said to be "tinkering" with its US version. The images remind me of some of the tiny cars C and I saw in Sicily and have seen in other parts of Europe. The price, which is expected to come in at about $8,000 US for the EU and US models, would beat the best current offerings on the market, and I'd love to test one out. I also wonder how well they'd sell in the US, where size, safety, and comfort are paramount. Hitting one of the Evanston or Chicago Sheridan Road potholes might twist the tiny car's axles like a pretzel, and the snow and heavy rains in many parts of the country would also pose a challenge. But I'm excited about seeing one of these in the metal, and even taking one for a spin. Just not on Sheridan Road.